Please read and carefully study these rules. The forum rules may be updated at any time, and, as a member of the THS message board, you are responsible for keeping abreast of changes to the rules. By creating a message board account you indicate that you have read and agree with the rules.

By reading the rules page carefully you will also find hints and tips that will make your experience on the THS message board more enjoyable.

Registration: When you register you must provide a real first and last name and a genuine email address. Without this information your membership cannot be approved. Additionally, your user name must reflect your actual name. For example, if your name is, John Doe Smith, appropriate user names could be: JohnSmith, John Smith, John D Smith, JohnDSmith or John Doe Smith.

We ask for your full name to create an honest and credible historical community. Many of our members know each other, and this information is important so that additional friendships may be made and to provide a measure of honesty and credibility between message board users. Members using a false identity will have their membership terminated immediately. This rule includes multiple registrations. Registering and posting using more than one account will not be tolerated, and will result in an instant dismissal. If you are having difficulty logging in to your original account, please contact the administrators.

If you do not wish to follow these rules you are welcome to follow discussions as a guest without the ability to join into the discourse between registered members.

Politics and Religion: Discussions involving politics and/or religious beliefs are not allowed unless specifically discussing a personality or issue dealing directly with the Titanic, another ship, or related maritime topics. This includes all discussion of reincarnation and linking to political and/or religious sites in your messages or signature.

Linking to Dubious Web Sites: We do not permit linking to web sites that contain dubious material of any sort. This includes, but is not limited to, racially insensitive sites and pornography of any sort including child pornography. External linking will be monitored in both forum posts and signatures. Creating accounts for the purpose of advertising, selling, or linking to pornography and hate sites is grounds for banning. We will react swiftly and harshly to such activity.

James Cameron’s 1997 movie: The THS message board celebrates the 1997 motion picture Titanic but will not allow messages relating to fictional characters from that movie. This is a serious forum and not the place to ruminate over Jack and Rose. Questions and information relating to sets, models and filming of the movie, as well as other technical discussions related to the movie are welcomed.

Personal Conduct: Remember that your messages will be viewed by people around the world. As such, do not attack or smear any culture, country or its inhabitants. Not all members will have the same point of view that you do, so please respect their opinions.

Even if you’ve had a bad experience on another Titanic-related message board, this is not the place to air past grievances. Please refrain from messages or comments disparaging other forums. Keep discussions of a topic clean, respectful, and without profanity. Open discussion and debate are encouraged, but attacks on another member are not allowed. (Something as seemingly innocuous as “You screwed up, you should have…” is an attack on one’s character and integrity, and will not be allowed.) We reserve the right to lock any thread that violates these rules and/or to delete the offending messages. Violators of this rule will be given no more than three chances before being banned. If a complaint about a post is received by the moderators, we will review and begin to act on any such complaint within twenty-four hours.

Copyright: Please read and obey the U.S. Copyright laws found at http://www.copyright.gov/faq.html . Short quotes from copyrighted articles and web sites may be used in replies, but do not post entire copyrighted articles into your posts. It is better to state your post in your own words. Any copyrighted material posted MUST link to the original source online. Photographs, paintings and drawings cannot be the property of any other person. There are too many attorneys in the world for you to take a chance on using someone else’s material.

In uploading any file to the Titanic Historical Society message board you guarantee that one or more of the following statements are true:

1.) No copyright exists on the material being uploaded. 2.) Copyright on the material has expired.3.) Explicit written approval has been obtained from the copyright owner for use of their material. The owner of the material must be acknowledged with this submission.4.) The contributor of the article or image is the owner of copyright on the material that is being posted. 5.) The material used does not infringe on any trademark, license or copyright owned or under the control of a third party.

For-Sale Items: As a general guideline, please be careful of any member who advertises items for sale relating to the Titanic. The THS cannot guarantee any items offered outside the THS Museum Store, and cannot be held responsible for the outcome of any private sale. This type of activity is monitored closely, and spurious listings will be deleted. Do not list any item for sale in a thread not specifically created for this purpose. The THS gets no percentage of such sales, and as we are a non-profit organization we are not in the business of providing a free venue for marketers.

Privacy: No moderator or member shall be able to ask you for personal details such as a username, password or any other information relating to your membership. Please report any such request for personal information to the administrators.

Disclaimer: The Titanic Historical Society message board is a public forum, and the views expressed are not necessarily those of the officers of THS. The moderators and forum owner cannot guarantee the validity of any facts, views, accuracy, reliability, opinions and statements by members. The THS message board exists to promote the free flow of information about the Titanic and other ships of interest.

Posting Tips

Composition of Posts: Please do not write your post in all capital letters. Please do not use cell phone or instant message spelling, punctuation and grammar in your posts. Show respect to your fellow members and proofread your message before submitting it. Members from around the world may have an incredibly difficult time figuring out what you are talking about, and poor spelling, capitalization and grammar are in poor taste. You don’t have to be an English major – just get the idea across without offending the eyes! Keep in mind you are participating in a growing historic record, and how you wish to be remembered.

Please remember that you are writing for the historical record. Posts which contain incorrect information may be edited or deleted. Take the time to check facts and make sure of place names, people and dates.

Please reserve off topic discussions for the forum of the same name. Personal essays (known as Vanity Posts), chain letters, and non-attributed screeds are not encouraged at any time, and will be removed.

Post Titles: To open a discussion or request information, use descriptive titles to get the attention of those with the experience to reply. Titles such as “A question” or “I need help” without additional details may end up passing unnoticed by people who can help you. If your title is concise or distinctive other board members will be able find your question more easily. Your title may be edited for clarity and spelling.

Care in posting new topics: Please do not duplicate an existing discussion. Using the search function will help you find existing topics. Duplicate threads will be moved or deleted without notice. Also, do not start a new discussion in the middle of an existing thread. This confuses the original intent of the thread, and makes it harder for the serious researcher to find information. Please reserve off-topic discussions for the appropriate forum.

The avatar feature of this message board is disabled.

Please remember that with all the rules above, warnings will be served and chronic offenders will be banned.

Due to abuse of the private message system (PM), the ability to send private messages in the forum have been disabled.